Leading the way in social inclusion
From pioneering degree apprenticeships to creating an award-winning learning environment and setting new sector-wide standards with our Widening Participation work, Queen Mary welcomes anyone with the potential to succeed.
The profile of our domestic undergraduate students in London is distinctive for a Russell Group university, and any research-leading university across the world.
In 2022, Queen Mary won the ‘University of the Year’ award at the sixth annual UK Social Mobility Awards.
This follows a 2021 report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in partnership with the Sutton Trust and Department of Education that named us as the best university for social mobility in the country. The 2021 Sunday Times Good University Guide, which noted that “Queen Mary continues to prove that social inclusion and academic success are not mutually exclusive.”
Widening Participation
- Each year, the University employs 160 undergraduate and postgraduate ambassadors centrally to support our outreach and access activity, paid at the London Living Wage.
- We engage over 17,000 known students annually in our Outreach and Access Activity.
- The University sponsors two Multi-Academy Trusts (Draper’s and University Schools’ Trust), offering a range of initiatives aimed at improving students' academic attainment, supporting their navigation of higher education options, and strengthening governance through staff engagement.
- Queen Mary has a generous bursary of up to £1,700 annually, for our students whose household income is below £35,000.
Queen Mary has the best record of all the Russell Group universities in England for recruiting undergraduate students from state schools and from lower-income families.— The Times Social Inclusion Index
Award-winning learning environment
- Whether physically on our campuses or virtually, Queen Mary is at the forefront of learning environment innovation. A combination of Mixed Mode Education and an engaging approach to teaching ensures all our students’ development and needs are catered for.
- This innovation has seen our medical students accompany their lecturer on their surgery rounds, delivered via a camera on the ‘smart glasses’ he was wearing.
- Evidence of our best-in-class approach came via the Pearson’s inaugural HE Innovate Awards, where we won the award for ‘Most innovative hybrid or blended learning project.’
Degree Apprenticeships
- We were the first Russell Group institution to deliver Degree Apprenticeship programmes back in 2015 and remain at the forefront of this type of delivery.
- Current employers we are partnered with include: BBC, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Deutsche Bank, FDM, Goldman Sachs, GSK, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, PwC, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and a number of NHS Trusts including Barts Health, and other London NHS Trusts.
SEED Award
- Queen Mary champions co-creation through our SEED (Student Enhanced Engagement and Development) award. Students receive this award in recognition of their contribution to co-creating and shaping education at Queen Mary.
- One of 2022’s winners was first year History student, Rosie Matthews, who has worked tireless to improve learning disability and accessibility student support.
- “To have gained the SEED award is a huge point of pride. I can’t think of a better way to have all the work of the past year recognised, and I feel lucky to have had the chance to shape and improve my course.”
Centre of the Cell
- Centre of the Cell, based at the Blizard Institute, is the first science education centre in the world to be located within working biomedical research laboratories.
Page last updated on 22/10/25.
Have you spotted an error, or missing information? Please email content@qmul.ac.uk.